Headed back to VA tomorrow to visit my sister’s farm. There’s a strong chance I’ll be moving down there semi-permanently, to work on the farm (and build gasifiers).
It’s one step closer to where I want to be… On a farm, eating food I grow, using energy I produced, building things for people. Kind of exciting.
Maybe if your primary air in the lower barrel was bottom-fed through a slotted tuyere like a naturally-aspirated forge instead of from the front/door, your stove would act more like a TLUD/gasifying stove than the design you’d described?
I hope this step towards your dreams works out for you!
You’re living in a suburban location currently, correct?
Chris, you will never regret the move. I did it almost 40 yrs. ago, only way to live with a feeling of freedom. Al
Hope you got nieces and nephews also. They are so fun to teach how to wipe their noses on their shirt sleeves and moms really appriecate appriecate it. : ’ )
Oops replied to Brian instead of Chris my bad
Good for you Chris! You’ll have some elbow room. Is there a tentative date?
Great picture by the way.
I’m with Tom. But without a sketch I can’t picture of how it should be built.
I understand to let air in under the fire and that is the primary burn. What then? Just any air above the fire is a secondary burn? Or should it be preheated along the outside of the burn tube and piped in above the fire?
Chris, now your cooking with gas. Follow your heart.
Looks like “Take me home, country road”
Don you cut right to the meat of the subject YOU TRIED IT IT DID NOT WORK. Thank you. You have save me a lot of time. I have enough projects in the fire and don’t need to start another BUT getting heat in my shop right now is pretty important. I have a wood stove now but it eats up wood and doesn’t get my shop very warm ( if the building is not insulated, no stove will warm it ) So after your experience I will look for insulation instead of more heat. Thank you. I’ll give you the two cents the next time I see you because your explanation was well worth it.TomC
I patterned a burner after yours , I found adding outer shroud for pre-heated air helped a lot, mine use drilled holes so I can angle them to get a circular secondary burn.
Ha! Ha! Way outside the topic now going on.
But what Wallace said about spark PISTON INTERNAL COMBUSTION engine and fuels octanes and fuels BTU’s is so true.
Ain’t specifically about either!
It is about what that particular engine configurations WANTS for the conditions and loads it is subjected to.
Same is true about compression ignition piston engines too.
Ha! If was easy, pleasie, tabletop calculable then everyone would be able to do it.
Nope. The cost of learning is broken finger nails, busted engine parts.
Do realize too that there is a disconnect between ultimate fuel efficiency and max gross power.
Regards
Steve unruh
I have a shelf of broken parts called " sacrifices to the gods of speed "
But non of them burn wood.
More broken nails to come…
Tom, I don’t heat my shop any more. Well, I do have a propane camp stove to warm hands and tools. Saves me a ton of time chopping wood to keep the hydronic floor from freezing in the winter. If I could spend some real time in the shop it would heat it. But I wear insulated coveralls, warm socks, hood, hat, gloves and most important warm leather boots. After a bit of real work I start to over heat and have to remove some of my personal insulation. No danger of fires is a bonus. Just got in, it’s 4f out but the shop must be a few degrees warmer plus no wind. 
Yes Jeff, You are correct. I also work in my shop with lined coveralls, usually a hat with a hoody over it, I wear my gloves out from the inside out from putting them on and off, and I have chemical warmers that I put in my boots. I do have a wood stove but by the time I get it going and feeling any heat, my allotted work time is over. A couple of hours on my feet is about all I can do at one time. I do love it when I can get the torches and the welder out and cut some steel and do some welding, as that is usually warming in a short time. For now I will keep the stove I have and consider what I can do to insulate my shop. Tomorrow will be better, it is going to get up to +25 F TomC
Hi Tom, just wanted to add my vote for greater energy efficiency through insulation, it just makes life simpler all round once that investment and work is done. Years ago I built a little shop, 22 x 24, 10 ft ceiling, 2 x 6 walls, R40 ceiling insulation, carefully sealed around electrical boxes and edges of vapour barrier. Up here I can keep it well above freezing with a 1200W heater running intermittently. In the summer likewise it stays cool.
I would do 2 things differently today - I would blow cellulose in the attic space to R60, and use 2 x 2 horizontal furring strips on 16" centers over 2 x 4 studs. This technique nearly eliminates thermal bridging at the studs, and will reduce the material budget, as the 2 x 2’s are non structural, and can be any grade material. It also serves to help resist warping of the odd stud, and to level the wall generally. Horizontal 2 x 2’s provide the perfect base for laying drywall vertically, another benefit.
Garry Tait, Manitoba
Congratulations Chris. That sounds like a very positive move. I think generally wood gassers are uncomfortable city dwellers, at least compared to the helpless, and proudly skill-less normal urbanites. I hope that goes well for you.
I’m on a similar path, came from the farm, been living and working in a small city for too many years, now in the process of setting up a farm, and a completely different life in a very quiet area far to the north. The difficulty is that our society monetizes everything, and places no value on self sufficiency, / the market is completely distorted by very undervalued fossil energy inputs, and now over generations our cultural values and skills along with. So to lead a real and meaningful life while paying the bills requires unconventional values, views and skills.
Garry Tait, Manitoba
-14 C out today, but sunny 
Can’t remember when I last saw the sun.
Spent all day out and really got something done. Like Wayne said the other day - makes you feel much better when you get to sweat. I get really itchy when I don’t.
Ended up in the tub. Boiler roaring downstairs. Filled up all the way to my chin. Hot water feels so nice and soft when you know it’s free 
SWEG (smiling with every gallon)
Go for it. I felt that way 40+ years ago.
